3/29/2007 @ 6:00PM

The World's 2,000 Largest Public Companies

What are the biggest companies in the world? Try to answer this question with a single metric (like sales) and you wind up with a lopsided list (one cluttered with retailers). We use four measures — sales, market value, assets and profits — to produce a composite measure of bigness. We also scorecard these companies to produce Global High Performers, an elite list of fast-growing big companies that set the pace for their respective industries.